Federation Equestre Internationale News 21 July 2004

Three candidates for 2010 World Equestrian Games
European Jumping Championship for Young Riders and Juniors
Samsung Super League Hickstead
FEI Eventing World Cup Update
FEI Promotional Meeting in Reining
In Memoriam
In the pipeline: coming events

EUROPEAN JUMPING CHAMPIONSHIP FOR YOUNG RIDERS AND JUNIORS
British Youth Reign Supreme in Vilamoura (POR)

Located close to Faro in the beautiful region of Algarve, Vilamoura is the name given to an area rather than to an actual town. It is one of the largest single tourist complexes in Europe and covers some 2000 hectares of land and offer to the visitor nearly every form of sport and entertainment, including a long sandy beach on the Atlantic Coast. Very reputed for its four Golf courses, the resort also hosts a preserved Roman Site and Museum of Cerro da Vila providing an interesting glimpse into the past of the area.

The experienced Organising Committee of the European Jumping Championship for Young Riders and Juniors, the company Lusotur SA, provided excellent stabling and competition facilities for the more than 150 young participants and their mounts, who enjoyed a sunny weather and a pleasant wind on the five days of competitions from 14 to 18 July.

The British riders came away from Portugal with a double team success. Led by Chef d'Equipe Mike Florence, Great Britain indeed dominated the championship and was also crowned by an Individual Silver Medal on Sunday, with Tim Gredley missing the Gold Medal by 1.55 seconds.

The British Team, who won the Young Rider European title on Friday was composed of Robert Whitaker on Karina, Lee Wiliams on Lacanda, Emma Shaw on Crown Rhodonite and Ben Maher on Alfredo. Belgium earned the Silver Medal followed by the Netherlands who had to settle for bronze. With seven riders with less than 2 faults difference, the Final for the Individual title promised to be very exciting. Andrea Herholdt (ITA) confirmed his sparkling performance on Nanta and finished the championship with a little 1.43 fault total and the coveted Gold Medal. Faye Shoch (SUI), the double Pony champion, earned the Silver Medal with Tequi d'I CH. The young Swiss star, who also had finished second of the Junior Championship in 2003, had one fault over the water jump on the second round of the Team competition. Judy Ann Melchior (BEL) on Espoir Z earned the bronze.

On Saturday, the British Junior team visibly appreciated the course designed by Luis Xavier de Brito (POR) and literally flew over the competition to finish with a faultless performance. The team composed of Marta Beaumont on Bullands Sensation, Tim Gredley on Omelli, Gemma Plumley on Continue B and James Billington on Casyopaya did not leave any uncertainties as to the capture of the Gold. The Silver and Bronze medals however, were decided at the end of a jump-off between Germany and the Netherlands, which turned to the advantage of the German team. Thirteen teams in total competed in the Junior Team competition. One shall note the remarkable level reached by nations such as Hungary and Poland, who finished 7th and 8th respectively, after slightly cracking under pressure on the second round, despite an
impressive performance in the first round of the Team competition.

Seven riders went clear in the Team competition and started the Final on Sunday with a clean score. Felix Hassmann of Germany was the fastest in the exciting jump-off for the Individual title, with his 8 years old bay Holsteiner mare Queen Liesa, by Quidam de Revel. He finished in 32.93 seconds, ahead of Tim Gredley (GBRE) who cleared the course in 34.48 seconds to earn the silver medal ahead of Jan Spaas (BEL) who had to settle for bronze.

More information and complete results on www.alubox.net

2010 WORLD EQUESTRIAN GAMES CANDIDATES ARE FRANCE, UNITED ARAB EMIRATES AND USA.

The National Federations had until 15 July to submit applications to host the 2010 FEI World Equestrian Games to the FEI.

FRANCE
The candidature of the French Region of Basse Normandie and the city of Caen was formally confirmed by the President of the Regional Council Philippe Duron on 12 July 2004. Reputed for horse breeding, the region of Basse-Normandie encompasses a large equine industry which employs more than 7000 persons taking care of approximately 55,000 horses. In Caen and its surroundings, a number of international competitions are organised each year in several FEI disciplines. The World Champions Eric Levallois, Eric Navel and Reynald Angot and the four stallions of the French 2002 gold team all came from Basse-Normandie, as are Baloubet du Rouet and a number of legendary French horses, both in racing and jumping.

UAE
One 8 June 2004, the UAE Equestrian and Racing Federation confirmed its application to host the 2010 FEI World Equestrian Games. The United Arab Emirates is a modern Gulf State with a strong economy and high growth rate. Serviced by all major airlines, the UAE has a reputed expertise in organising international conventions, and successfully hosted the FIFA Football Junior Championship in 2003. The world's richest flat race, the Dubai World Cups is held every year since 1996. The country, which is a leader in the discipline of Endurance, has a fine national infrastructure for Endurance, Jumping and Dressage in Sharjah, Abu Dhabi and Dubai where is also located a state-of-the-art equine hospital. A new world class arena is being built in Sharjah this year and the Federation plan to introduce in due course the disciplines of Eventing, Vaulting and Reining followed by Driving.

USA
On 8 July, Kentucky Governor Ernie Fletcher together with the US Equestrian Federation announced the application of Kentucky (USA) to host the 2010 FEI World Equestrian Games. The well-known Kentucky Horse Park, host of one of the most prestigious Three Day Event in the world, is the selected venue to host the seven disciplines of Jumping, Dressage, Eventing, Driving, Endurance, Reining and Vaulting. Located in Lexington, Kentucky, the heart of the Bluegrass, the Kentucky Horse Park is a working horse farm with 1,200 acres surrounded by 30 miles of white plank fencing. The park hosts nearly 850,000 visitors and 80 special events and horse shows each year. With a complete facility for many different disciplines of equestrian activity, the Kentucky Horse Park is booked practically every week with multiple horse competitions and special events.

Held every four years, the World Equestrian Games include all FEI disciplines. The first WEG was organised in Stockholm in 1990. The 2002 World Equestrian Games in Jerez de la Frontera (ESP) attracted close to 300,000 spectators, 800 participants from 45 nations and 1000 media representatives. The 2006 FEI World Equestrian Games will be held in Aachen (GER) from 22 August to 3 September.

The FEI will discuss in detail the organising procedures of the 2010 World Equestrian Games with each candidate NF and help in establishing the formal bids that shall be received by the FEI no later than 15 October. These organising procedures include technical requirements, veterinary, marketing, logistics, television and general organising matters. The allocation of the 2010 World Equestrian Games shall be announced in 2005.

SAMSUNG SUPER LEAGUE 2004
ALL EYES ON ITALY AT HICKSTEAD

Extract of Samsung Super League Press News 15 by Louise Parkes

The All England Jumping Course at Hickstead hosts the sixth leg of the 2004 Samsung Super League series on Friday next and, with just one further round remaining before the Final in Barcelona in September, the pressure is intensifying at the lower end of the league table. The Italians had a disastrous outing in Aachen last week and now lie four points behind the Irish in bottom position. The question is, can Chef d'Equipe Duccio Bartalucci once more find the inspirational drive that rescued his side from relegation at the end of the 2003 series? It seems like a tall order but Italian courage in the face of adversity should never be under-estimated.

The French are back in control at the head of affairs but less than two points separate them from Germany in second place while The Netherlands is next in line almost four points further behind.

Belgium lies fourth on the leaderboard going into the British fixture, hotly pursued by the Americans who are just over one point further adrift in fifth spot while the home side, winners at Hickstead in the inaugural 2003 Samsung Super League season last summer, are stalking them with again just a single-point difference at this stage in the league series.

It is the Irish and Italians who are presently in the danger zone. Carrying 12.5 points to date, the Irish are 5.5 points behind the British and cannot afford a bad result either this week or at their home fixture in Dublin in just over two weeks time.

The All England Jumping Course at Hickstead was created by Douglas Bunn back in 1960 and has long established itself as the home of international show jumping in Great Britain. It was the venue for the World Championships in 1974 and the European Championships in both 1983 and 1999.

In 1997 Hickstead looked to be under threat following the loss of sponsorship for the Derby event which had been supported by Silk Cut for over 14 years and it was only the last-minute intervention of Paul Schockemohle that saved the day. The German businessman, rider and three-time Hickstead Derby-winner stepped in to underwrite the costs for the 1997 season and that has now been formalised into a long-term arrangement, thus securing the future of Britain's much-treasured equestrian venue.

The British are rightly proud of Hickstead and they will be hoping to make it two victories in a row when they ride into the ring on Friday afternoon. Mark Armstrong, Richard Davenport, Robert Whitaker and the two Olympic individuals Nick Skelton and Robert Smith will be flying the Union Jack and as the 2004 Samsung Super League series draws towards its climax every round from every rider counts for a great deal. Mistakes at this stage in the league will be heavily punished and, for Italy in particular, it's getting right down to the wire.

Website for Hickstead is www.hickstead.co.uk

Dublin Horse Show - the seventh leg of the series takes place in Dublin on Friday August 6th.
Full details on website www.dublinhorseshow.com.

SAMSUNG SUPER LEAGUE 2004 LEADERBOARD (AFTER ROUND 5 IN AACHEN):
France - 30.3
Germany - 28.8
The Netherlands - 25.0
Belgium - 20.3
USA - 19
Great Britain - 18
Ireland - 12.5
Italy - 8.5.

YOU CAN SEE IT ON TV:
The MBPtv schedule for Hickstead is:

British Eurosport - 23 July 22.15hrs
RAI (Italy) - Live/Delayed Live
RTE (Ireland) - 27 July
TVE Teledeporte (Spain)- Live/Delayed Live
Equidia (France) - 23 July 18.00 hrs, 25 July 22.00
VRT - Live/Delayed Live
Eurosport (Pan Europe)- 28 July 20.00 hrs, 29 July 09.00 hrs.
Finnish Sport TV - 2 August 19.00 hrs
Sport TV Portugal - Highlights
XXP (Germany) - 1 August 19.00 hrs
CNBC Europe - 7 August 15.00 hrs
Fox World (Middle East) - 19 August 22.00 hrs
Horse TV (USA) - 15 August 17.00 hrs, 21 August 17.00 hrs
CNBC Asia - 15 August 15.00 hrs
ESPN Star Sports - 4 August 18.00 hrs, 5 August 07.00 & 10.00 hrs, 6 August
16.30 hrs, 7 August 07.00 hrs.
M-Net (Pan Africa) - 13 August 23.30 hrs.

SAMSUNG SUPER LEAGUE - NATIONAL PRIDE, INTERNATIONAL PASSION!

FEI EVENTING WORLD CUP UPDATE
Linda Algotsson reigns supreme on home ground

2003 FEI Eventing World Cup Champion Linda Algotsson won a brilliant victory at the 11th FEI Eventing World Cup qualifier held in Malmö (SWE) from 16 to 18 July. Riding her very own 11-year old gelding Fair Dobbin, she finished on the impressive result of 46.4 penalties. Linda was in 4th position after the first day of competition, despite a fine Dressage test (44 penalties), but a clear Cross Country (2.4 time penalties) followed by a clear Jumping round made her the convincing leader more than 10 points ahead of runner-up fellow countrywoman Viktoria Carlerbäck.

This victory secures Linda 100 FEI Eventing World Cup points which, added to her previous performances in Luhmühlen, GER (60 points) and Strzegom, POL (30 points), place her as the firm leader of the standings with 190 points, well ahead of Germany's Andreas Dibowski (134 points) and Darren Chiacca of the USA (123 points).

A remarkable performance was also put on by Viktoria Carlerbäck, who rode no less than three horses and placed 2nd on Ballys Geronimo with a final result of 56,5 points and 4th on Onyx with 60,4 points. Victoria, who also took part in the Luhmühlen qualifier, is now 7th in the FEI Eventing World Cup standings with 104 points.

The winning trio is completed by the current World bronze medallist Piia Pantsu (FIN) on Ypäjä Karuso. Piia performed the competition's best Dressage test (37,5 penalty points), but this excellent beginning was unfortunately followed by a refusal in her otherwise faultless Cross Country. A clear Jumping round, equalled only by the winner Linda Algotsson, put her in third position only one point behind Viktoria Carlerbäck (final result of 57,5 points).

All three of them are part of their countries' Olympic selection which is a welcome confirmation of the prestige the FEI Eventing World Cup series is acquiring among the world's best riders.

The full results are available on http://www.equipe.nu/resultat/Rib04Res1Slut.htm

After ten qualifiers the leaderbord of the FEI Eventing World Cup is as follows:
1. Linda Algotsson (SWE) - 190 points
2. Andreas Dibowski (GER) - 134 points
3. Darren Chiacca (USA) - 123 points
4. Andrew Hoy (AUS) - 120 points
5. Matthew Grayling (NZL) - 118 points
6. Phillip Dutton (AUS) - 110 points
7. Viktoria Carlerbäck (SWE) - 104 points
8. Andrzej Pasek (POL) - 101
9. Sonja Johnson (AUS) - 100
9. Robyn Fisher (USA) - 100
9. R. de Gouveia Jr. (BRA) - 100
9. Pippa Funnell (GBR) - 100
9. Pavel Sergeev (RUS) - 100

The full standings are available on the FEI's website www.horsesport.org

The next FEI Eventing World Cup qualifiers will take place in Kalispell (Rebecca Farm), MT (USA) and Warwick (AUS) from 23 to 25 July.

REINING NEWS
FEI Promotional Meeting Held during the 2004 NRHA European Affiliate Championship Show

During the NRHA European Affiliate Championship Show held in Deurne (NED), an FEI Promotional Meeting was held. The objective of the meeting itself was to provide the international reining community information regarding the upcoming major FEI World Reining Masters presented by NetJets, the 2005 FEI World Reining Masters and the 2006 World Equestrian Games.

With regard to the 2004 FEI World Reining Masters Series presented by NetJets, a fractional jet ownership company with branches world wide, the prize fund of USD100,000 was confirmed. $75,000 will be offered in the Open Division, open to all qualified riders, and $25,000 will go to the Restricted Division (a division for competitors from those countries not among the five finalists at the 2002 WEG: USA, Canada, Italy, Germany and Great Britain). For both divisions a set of FEI medals (Gold, Silver and Bronze) will be awarded.

The World Reining Masters Final competition, which is scheduled for Thursday 2 December at 7.30 p.m., a prime time performance hour, will be held at the State Fair Arena, Oklahoma City in conjunction with the NRHA Reining Futurity. The competition will comply with all FEI rules and no elimination or go round will be held.

To this date 15 countries have planned to organise one or more qualifying CRI. Teams that made the finals at the 2002 WEG may submit two entries and all others may submit one. Entrants do not need to compete on horses with which they qualified and no ownership restrictions will be applied.

Each finalist will be provided with seven room night accommodation in a four star hotel, $50 per day meal allowance for seven days and $1,500 for travel to and from Oklahoma City where shuttle service will be made available from the hotel to the event site at specified times. These funds are generously made available by Classic S Ranch, Reichling, Germany.

The Organising Committee will attempt to coordinate travel arrangements from a central point in Europe to New York or Miami and on to Oklahoma City. Those interested in shipping horses from Europe to this event will be able to stay in the USA on a Performance Carnet. In addition on and off site quarantine facilities will be available. The FEI World Reining Masters finals will be televised by America's Horse TV and the FEI is working for TV broadcasting in Europe.

2005 FEI World Reining Masters Series

Frank Costantini, Chairman of the FEI Reining Committee, announced that the time limit for submitting bids to host the 2005 FEI World Reining Masters Series finals had been extended to 15 August and that Organising Committee's from Bremen, Kreuth, Stockholm and Milan were planning to submit their nominations. The location which will prove to be the most beneficial to the promotion of the sport of Reining will be chosen and the purse will not be lowered. Costantini was pleased to note that interest in hosting the prestigious final proved to be higher than expected and took the opportunity to thank all those involved in helping promote the FEI World Reining Master
Series. It was reported that Trigg Rentfro had been appointed FEI Reining Development Officer and that Ramona Billing and Simona Diale would be the Media Contacts for the FEI Reining Department.

2006 WORLD EQUESTRIAN GAMES - AACHEN, GERMANY

Don Treadway, AQHA Executive Director of Marketing, announced that Reining would be a full FEI discipline at the 2006 WEG in Aachen which signifies that it will join the six FEI disciplines in terms of expenses and prize money being provided for by the Organising Committee. The purse will be the same, or higher, than the one offered in Spain at the 2002 WEG "Our long term goal is the Olympics and there is a good chance for our sport in the future", said Treadway. "Even though we have accomplished much in such a short period, it is however imperative that we do have more FEI competitions with more countries competing". Hosting the meeting were also Trigg Rentfro, FEI Reining Development Officer and Dan Wall, NRHA Executive Director.

IN MEMORIAM
International show jumping judge Sven Knoch (SWE), recently passed away at the age of 69. His 70th birthday was coming up this July.

Sven Knoch has been active in the Swedish Equestrian Federation and the equestrian sport for many years. For the past two years he acted as chairman for the federations Education Committee, chairman of the Disciplinary Board and a member of the Judicial Board.

Before the fusion of the then four equestrian bodies into today's Swedish Equestrian Federation in 1993, Sven Knoch was a member of the board of Ridfrämjandet and he represented the Education Committee on the federation's board for several years. Sven Knoch had a law degree and worked as a prosecutor with economic crimes as speciality.

Michel Roche (FRA) a member of the French Gold medal team Jumping at the 1976 Olympic Games in Montreal died recently after a long illness. He was 65 years old.

Riding the fabulous roan Un Espoir, Michel Roche made his debut with the French Nations Cup team in 1973 in Rotterdam. Until 1978, they competed in 18 Nations Cups and in the 1975 European Championships, where France won the bronze medal.

At the 1976 Olympic Games, the French team of Michel Roche, Marcel Rozier, Hubert Parot and Marc Roguet and led by Jean d'Orgeix won the Gold medal ahead of Germany and Belgium.

IN THE PIPELINE

World Single Driving Championship in Astorp (SWE): www.wdc2004.com
European Young Riders and Juniors Dressage Championship in Aahrus (DEN):
www.vilhelmsborg.dk
European Pony Championship Dressage, Jumping and Eventing in Jaszkowo (POL):
www.centrumhipiki.com
CSIO 5* Hickstead with Samsung Super League : www.hickstead.co.uk
CSI 4* La Coruna (ESP) www.csicasasnovas.com
CSIO 5* Gijon (ERSP) part of the Samsung Nations Cup Series :
www.ayto-gijon.es/chipic
CSI 4* San Patrignano (ITA): www.sanpatrignano.org
CSI 3* Vimeiro (POR): www.csivimeiro.com
CIC 3*-W (Eventing World Cup) Warwick (AUS): www.wht.org.au
CIC 3* Hamburg-Horn (GER) : www.engarde.de
CSIY-A, Le Mans (FRA): www.boulerie-jump.com

www.horsesport.org